America has only 76 ‘true’ pizzerias

They’ve been certified to ‘promote and protect true Neapolitan pizza’

PHOENIX (MarketWatch) — Let pizza lovers in New York and Chicago sing the praises of their cities’ signature pies. As far as Justin Piazza is concerned, the two restaurants he runs in this Southwestern metropolis produce pizzas that are tastier and truer to the Italian tradition.

And, as he is quick to note, he has the piece of paper to prove it.

Piazza, a 40-year-old, American-born, third-generation pizza maker, is one of a growing wave of culinary entrepreneurs who have been granted the seal of approval from the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, a nonprofit organization, founded in Naples three decades ago, whose mission is to “promote and protect … true Neapolitan pizza.”

In a sense, the association’s aims are similar to groups that safeguard everything from French sparkling wine to Italian cheese. But the goals differ in that the pizza people don’t say “true” pizza has to come from a specific locale. Rather, they say it can come from anywhere — so long as it is made according to the “traditional methods” and conforms to an exacting series of standards.

Indeed, to get his Vera Pizza Napoletana, or VPN, certification, Piazza says he purchased about $25,000 in specialty equipment, including a dome-shaped wood-burning oven (he went so far as to buy one he dubs “the Ferrari of ovens,” which features bricks made from the ashes of Mount Vesuvius). Additionally, he had to use certain ingredients, including a flour with what the association’s regulations describe as “an almost talcum powder–like appearance.”

Finally, he had to spend the better part of six months learning the proper pizza-making techniques, including handling the dough with a deftness that VPN boosters say approaches a kind of artistry.

Preserving the perfect Neapolitan pizza

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An increasing number of pizzerias and pizza makers are getting certified as authentically Neapolitan. Some see it as a mark of quality, while others say it's just a bunch of ... pepperoni.

It was enough time, money and effort that it nearly resulted in a divide between Piazza and his father, Dennis, who honed his pizza-making skills in northern New Jersey.

“My dad told me I was nuts,” says Justin Piazza, who owns two La Piazza restaurants in the Phoenix area, and who sports a leg tattoo depicting Pulcinella, a beloved comical figure in Neapolitan culture.

With all due respect to his father, Piazza says there is no comparison between the typical New York pizza, which tends to be on the cheesier and breadier side, and the typical Neapolitan one, which tends to be a lighter, sparsely topped affair — a connoisseur’s pizza, in his view. “I frown upon people who say they want extra cheese,” he says.

Even Justin’s dad admits he’s a bit of a convert. “My son made me a believer,” says Dennis Piazza, though he adds that “there’s nothing like good New York pizza.”

Chicago’s classic deep-dish pizza is decidedly thicker — with hefty layers of meat, cheese and sauce. When Lou Malnati’s, a Chicago deep-dish chain, decided to introduce its version of a Neapolitan pizza, it offered it as an appetizer. “That speaks to what we think about it,” says spokeswoman Meggie Lindberg. The chain discontinued its Neapolitan offering since so few customers ordered it, she says.

The VPN program is relatively unknown in the U.S., with 76 restaurants — from Ré Napoli in Greenwich, Conn., to Spacca Napoli in Chicago to Mozzeria in San Francisco — having earned the certification. Internationally, there are nearly 500 certified; Italy has the most.

Not only does the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana require pizzerias to spend serious, um, dough on equipment and ingredients; it also charges a $2,000 application fee. And U.S. applicants are encouraged to take classes at the association’s school in the Los Angeles area. A three-day program, at $1,650, includes tutorials in everything from “slapping the dough” to learning “how the plum tomatoes should be ground,” according to the course prospectus.

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